Baseball Tournament Case Study

How a Baseball Tournament was Able to Unite a Country.
Sports, something that in some families never had a bigger meaning besides time and entertainment. Dictionary.com defines sports as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. But many individuals just see it as a distraction and or relaxing thing to watch and even do. In this case they are going to be talking about baseball. Baseball is a bat and ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. The World Baseball Classic Tournament happens every four years, yet this year it had an impact like no other. They had teams from all over the world, like Dominican Republic, Israel, USA, Venezuela, Spain,
Australia and some others, but there was one that stood out the most. A team that comes from a 100 x 35 island, a team that was known because all of its player died there hair blonde; this was the Puerto Rico team. The Puerto Rico team, even though they did not win, they were able to unite its island which is going through some really tough times.
Unity at its finest.
Puerto Rico is a small island with a population of about three and a half millions habitants. Unfortunately, they are going through some really bad times right now. They are tilting the withdrawal of very important American companies and the financial wrongdoing of their government, leaving Puerto Rico with a debt of more than seventy million dollars, a forty five percent of poverty rate, crime everywhere and major brain drain. Even though the Puerto Rico team did not resolve any of these major issues, it brought its country unity. It was reported by local news that the crime rate during the two weeks of the tournaments had gone done significantly. Therefore they created a revolution that gave the younger generation hope. In addition to that, those thirty-seven players created what they called the blondie effect. Everybody cheer for them as “Team Rubio” which means the blonde team. This made a really big percentage of people in the island join this activity, six out of ten people decided to die their hair blonde to show support to the team. Also, everybody was going out buying hats, jerseys and t-shirts of the team, by the fourth day of the tournament a lot of the merchandise was sold out. Consequently this helped raise a little the economics of Puerto Rico. In addition to that, it is extremely disappointing that this country has seen the lack of importance that is giving to sports by their government; although they are aware of the positive effects and
the drastic changes it can have, even if it’s just temporary.
If there is something that Puerto Ricans are known for is their ability to turn everything into a party or some sort of celebration. During the two weeks of the tournament, they could feel hope in the air. When someone would walk in to a school, the normal image would be kids sitting somewhere in there cellphones; during this time that average image change, because they were seen playing baseball and talking about setting life goals that can and may take some of them to become the future Puerto Rico team that represents the country in the WBC in 2025. It was able to see how people who did not get along were able to connect with this event and put whatever negative situation behind them. It was beautiful to see that gender, race, religion, or any other things that makes the individual, but that we are also criticize for because it normally brings hatred and dispute was all put behind to celebrate and support something that they all believe in.
The tournament and the two weeks of full celebration made them realized that they did not need a gold medal to celebrate.
Those players were welcomed home with a parade and a party. This was the way of the citizens of saying thank you for representing us, thank you for making us see beyond all of our issues, and thank you for bringing some positivity, because it is well needed. Finally, those were just a couple of the good effect that those young men brought upon a country who is in need. Making this big sports event so much more that what it normally is. They brought home a silver medal, but this for the team and the country was just materialistic things that are not needed. For now on, until who knows when baseball is going to be more than just a simple bat and ball game. Thanks to them it means hope, unity, love and
passion.